Governance and disaster: Analysis of land use policy with reference to Uttarakhand flood 2013, India

The flood risks are crucially increasing in developing countries around the globe due to intense development activities and climate change. The extreme casualties and losses wrought by the flood events in June 2013 in the Uttarakhand (India) have raised the governance issues in policy-making and implementation for controlling human activities. Besides extreme rainfall, the unplanned development, weak legal framework and governance issues were claimed as responsible for triggering the disaster. The present study has evaluated the environmental aspects of existing policies related to regulate land use change and development activities when considered in relation to flooding. Analyzing the governance perspective by addressing policy, guidelines and mitigation strategies, this study highlighted the gaps in policies and practice that could be reshaped to reinforce resilience. This study also tried to delineate the high flood level and flood risk area along the Bhagirathi river using hydrological and hydrodynamic models for the event of 2013 that can assist in policy-making process. In summary, the study found that rampant construction at riverside in absence of effective building regulations and hydropower policy in the state has increased the magnitude of the disaster. The lack of multi-institutional coordination in formulating and practice of regulatory measures was found as a failure of governance in disaster preparedness and flood management. This study strongly suggests for compliance of local planning authorities and stakeholders with state and national policymakers for establishing collaborative governance. This article may help to bridge the gap between administrators and researcher for formulizing effective flood risk governance. •Flood inundation mapping using hydrodynamic modeling.•Review of policy and bylaws to control human activities in Uttarakhand.•Finding gaps in land development policies and governance issues.